Roadford Lake

Roadford Lake, also known as Roadford Reservoir is a man-made reservoir fed by the River Wolf. It is located to the north-east of Broadwoodwidger in West Devon, eight miles (13 km) east of Launceston and is the largest area of fresh water in the southwest of England. Operated by South West Water, it directly supplies water for North Devon. It also supplies Plymouth and southwest Devon via releases into the River Tamar for abstraction at Gunnislake.^[1] It is a Local Nature Reserve.^[2][3]

Roadford Lake
The lake, at very low level, seen from a bridge across the river Wolf (as it enters the lake).
Roadford Lake
Location	West Devon
Coordinates	50°42′0″N 4°13′45″W
Type	reservoir
Primary inflows	River Wolf
Basin countries	United Kingdom
Managing agency	South West Water
Built	1989
Surface area	295 ha (730 acres)
Water volume	34,500 Ml (7.6×109 imp gal)

The creation of the reservoir in 1989 permitted extensive archaeological research to be undertaken in the valley of the River Wolf led by Professor Mick Aston of Bristol University and documented by the Channel Four documentary series Time Signs.^[4]

In 2008 South West Water received planning permission to build a 100-bed holiday village beside the lake.^[5]

Facilities

• Brown Trout fishing
• Lakeside Cafe
• Activities:
  • Sailing
  • Rowing
  • Kayaking
  • Windsurfing
  • Canadian Canoes
  • High Ropes Course
  • Outdoor Archery Range
  • Indoor Climbing wall
  • Raft building
• Footpath walks through mature forests/woodland
• Cycleway through mature forests/woodland
• Adjacent campsite

The facilities are managed by South West Lakes Trust, a registered charity.

Incidents

On 9 June 2022, two people died when the motorboat they were travelling in capsized on the lake.^[6]